The long wait for next gen is finally over. For some. We waited around for so many years for a new console, and four come along at once. Two Xboxes and two PlayStations. Unlike the disparity in performance as well between the two Xboxes, it’s only the lack of a disc drive that separate the two new PS5 consoles. My review here is based on my own PS5 with the disc drive, but everything I say here applies to the Digital Edition consoles also. I’m offering this review to you as my initial thoughts on the console having opened the box, set it up and transferred my PS4 data, and spent a day getting to know it. It’s not possible to produce a full and detailed review just yet, not until the box office games start to arrive at least. To accompany this review, I’ve also put together a video of my experience so far, with what I hope would be the same reactions and troubles that you might encounter if, maybe, you bought this as a Christmas present for someone.First off, I’m not a devout fan of any console. I have absolutely no allegiances to one brand over another, so I hope my opinion is measured and impartial. As I say in the video, I’ve been a gamer since 1982 and the ZX Spectrum which I still have, and owned and still own most of the major consoles from Sega, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony since then. If anything, I despised Sony originally for pretty much killing off Sega as a console manufacturer so believe me when I say I don’t give them an easy ride.So, what do you get in the box? There’s the new DualSense joypad, a plastic stand to place the console on, the power cable, a HDMI cable, some literature and the PS5 itself. Nothing else bar the packaging. The reason I say that, is because there was no USB-C charging cable for the DualSense joypad in the box. Now, I don’t know if this is an oversight by Sony, whether there’s meant to be one or not, but there definitely wasn’t one in the box. And that’s important because within 20 seconds of you turning the PS5 on for the first time it tells you to connect the DualSense pad to the console by USB-C cable to allow pairing. Fortunately, I have spare cables knocking about, but they’re quite a new type of cable so not everyone will have one to hand. Please, if you’re buying this as a Christmas present, make sure you have the means to overcome this otherwise you’ll have some very grumpy children/partners throwing Brussel sprouts around.There’s been a lot said about the size of the PS5, and yes it is taller/wider than the PS4 but not deeper. It’s a similar size to the PS2 in my opinion. What is more apparent is the odd shape of it. It’s a contoured, sculptured creation which is up to the beholder to decide whether it’s pretty or ugly. I’m still trying to make my mind up about it, but what I do think is that it’s just a little bizarre. I admit to having not realised for a while I’d actually got it upside down. And it rocks when you place it down horizontally. It’s most peculiar, and really looks better standing vertically. In my office/games room I’ve tucked it away on a bookshelf where it’s sitting quite discreetly, but in a living room it’s going to be conspicuous. It’s going to stand out certainly, and I think that might have been what Sony were hoping to achieve. And, if I’m totally blunt, it’s certainly no worse than the two new Xboxes which seem to have been designed with the least amount of effort possible. It’ll be interesting to see how the white case and DualSense controllers weather and age. I suspect they’ll end up quite dirty and horrid over time, and I’d much preferred to have had a black console like the PS4.Moving on to the first boot-up, I wasn’t sure what I was going to find. I was hoping for a seamless transition, such as you’d get when you buy a new iPhone when everything just appears with virtually no interaction from yourself, but it’s not quite like that. Assuming that you have your PS4 saves and data either in the PS Plus cloud or on an external drive it’s relatively straightforward but not entirely painless. During the first boot you’ll need to pair the DualSense, log on to your PS account, select what data you want to transfer from your PS4 if you have one, choose some apps to install and select various privacy, family and T&C options. When you arrive at the home screen it’s a little different to what you might be familiar with. Much of it is very slick and I quite like it, such as the dedicated location for streaming apps which make it quicker to boot up Netflix of Spotify for example. But, there are a few things I’m not so much of a fan of. There seems to be several instances where there are more button presses to accomplish an action than on the PS4. Closing a game down fully or turning off the console take several key presses and I feel may become irritating. On the whole though, it is a strong user interface. In operation the PS5 has performed almost silently. It was on for 9 straight hours earlier and if it wasn’t for the illuminated chassis, I wouldn’t have known it was on. Certainly no banshee-like scream of the PS4.Game wise, I can only comment about PS4 backward compatibility because I’ve not bought any PS5 games. I’ve been quite disappointed by the games available at launch, but that’s been true of virtually every new console. Spider-man Miles Morales is the headline game, but with the very best will in the world it is a very expensive, if very good, DLC expansion to the great Spider-man game that came out two years ago on PS4. Is it a game to buy a PS5 on the strength of? No, it isn’t. However, the 2021 line up of games including the sequel to the sensation Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War are enough for me to choose the PlayStation over the Xbox, but throw in Gran Turismo 7 and I’m all in. But, until then, I’m sticking with playing my large library of PS4 games. I’ve got dozens of games I’ve not even played yet, so I’m now going to be playing them at a higher frame rate and with quicker load times.Load times. There’s another feature that there’s been a lot of talk about. The PS5 uses a supremely fast SSD (Solid State Drive) which is so much quicker than the traditional drives found in previous consoles. The PlayStation has always had a poor load time, but now it promises to be much better. As you can see on my video, I did a side-by-side test of the PS4 and PS5 to see how long it would take to power on the console to the home screen, then open up Dirt Rally 2 and load up a stage. The PS4 clocked in a 1 minute 47 while the PS5 was 1 minute 25, with a few extra page scrolls to get the correct stage. If I’m honest, while it is quicker, I was expecting it to be even faster. I don’t know if that’s because it’s a PS4 game and not optimised to take advantage of an SSD drive, but I suppose any improvement in speed is a good thing.What isn’t so good, however, is the capacity of the drive. It’s only 825GB, which by the time I got to the screen to select what games to install was only 513GB of space available. This really will cause problems. I had to have a long discussion with myself as to what games I wanted to have installed on the PS5, and it was like choosing a favourite child. GT Sport alone is 105GB! I installed 6 games and had 45GB left…I’m kind of glad I’ve not installed any PS5 games. My PS4 had a 2TB drive installed, and even then I had to keep cleaning it up. I’m not sure how I’m going to survive with a quarter of that available to me. Now, yes, there is potential for expansion drives. At the time of writing though Sony are only allowing the use of those for PS4 games as they say no third-party hard drive performs fast enough to allow PS5 games to work at optimum speed. So, as it stands, be thrifty with your installations.Let’s talk for a moment about the new DualSense joypad, something that has gotten a lot of people excited. And rightly so. The shoulder triggers have haptic motion feedback which feels more natural than the whole pad vibrating. For firing weapons, or racing games, it works really well and I think that game developers will come up with ways to make the most of it. However, it wasn’t all perfect. After using the pad for the last few hours I’ve had a few reservations, mostly down to it being quite a different device to the old DualShock pad that we know and love. Firstly, it feels very different in the hand. It’s a bulkier unit, filling the hand more than the DualShock. It reminded me very much of the Xbox pad in many ways, which may or may not make you happy. I also felt that it didn’t have quite the same balance as the Dualshock, a pad that was weighted a little towards you while the DualSense just leans away a little. The right thumb buttons and left thumb direction pad buttons are a very smooth clear plastic, and my thumbs didn’t seem to grip the surface quite so well as the old pad. When playing a Resogun, a classic left-right scrolling shooter with quick changes of direction, I didn’t feel quite so positive in my movement. Quite the opposite was true of the analogue joysticks though, which have quite a rough texture to them which I have to be totally honest was starting to feel just a little uncomfortable after really not that long playing. The PS button in between the sticks is no longer round, but in the shape of the PS logo that makes it easier to locate it, which is needed because there is a microphone mute button directly below it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve turned the mic off today. Lastly, the charging port on the top for a USB cable means that some third-party charging docks have to have the pad placed upside down or have an extra dongle attached, both of which are unsightly. The vast majority of my issues with the new DualSense, however, are unfamiliarity. I’ve used DualShocks for so many years that a change is difficult to absorb. One thing I’ll add to the controller discussion is that happily the Logitech G29 steering wheel is compatible with the PS5. Owners of the G27 will remember that they weren’t compatible with the PS4 when that came out, so it’s nice to see that issue hasn’t re-emerged.So, what are my thoughts in conclusion? I would never suggest it’s better or worse than an Xbox, it’s up to you to look at the games coming out in the next year or so to decide which best appeals to you. It will also take a significantly larger investment to get a PC that outperforms these latest consoles, and trust me…I have spent thousands upon thousands on gaming rigs over the years and seen little in return at the end of their lives.I hadn’t been carried along in the hype about the PS5 as I felt there was a lot of things that could have been better. The size of the hard drive, the lack of Dolby Atmos support, question marks over Variable Refresh Rate support and 8K compatibility for example. I bought the PS5 as an early investment because my PS4 Pro retains good value at the moment and I can lessen the impact of buying the new console. After a couple of days in the PS5’s company I have yet to catch fire with excitement. At this very moment, it’s a PS4 Pro Extreme. It’s going to be a few months, certainly well into next year, before the games will come along that will truly make us all go “wow, this is awesome”. Which is why I say to you that if you are able to get your hands on one, by all means do it. The potential of this thing is immense, and it’s going to blow us all away. But while that remains just potential, I suggest then that you not be disappointed if you can’t get hold of one. Don’t feel that you’re missing out on something, because in truth right at this very minute you’re not.